


Gone

by Silversphenix



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Amber - Freeform, Burnt Skin, Limb loss, hurt incantation, kind of gory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-05 13:09:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21209066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silversphenix/pseuds/Silversphenix
Summary: Everything had been going to plan. Varian got the trust of Rapunzel again, and now they just needed to free his father. But when he tries to wake Rapunzel up from her incantation, things start to go down hill.





	Gone

_Wither and decay_

Rapunzel's voice bounced off the walls of the lab, her voice and face beautiful yet dark. Her hair was flowing black and her eyes dark voids.

No of this seemed to register with varian as he watched the amber incasing his father start to melt. Pure disbelief filled his face as he watched his father slowly be freed from his golden prison. Some part of Varian had always believed that he would never free his father, even as he went on to do all of those horrible things. Yet here he stood, Amber pooling like honey before him and Rapunzel singing beside him.

He almost couldn't believe it when he whispered it the first time, so his voice raised in amazement the second. "It's working!" He exclaimed, the note trapped Quirin hand now fluttering softly in the faint wind.

_End this destiny_

"Oh!" He yelled, joy overcoming him as he stumbled forwards, "Dad!"

_Break these earthly chains_

Varian paused, noticing how Rapunzel was still singing. He glanced down at the bucket he held, the water sloshing from his movements. Her words from earlier echoed in his head, reminding him of his duty. Without looking back, he steeled himself and threw the water at Rapunzel. It evaporated before it even touched her.

_And set the spirit free_

Desperate, Varian shouted at her, "Wake up!" And without thinking clamped his gloved hands down on her shoulders, forgetting what happened to the water.

"Gah!" He yelped when his gloves suddenly melted right off of his hands with a menacing hiss. Unfortunately, he had been caught off guard by this sudden change, not retracting his hands in time as they recovered the distance of his gloves. His bare hands met with Rapunzel's shoulders.

_The spirit free_

A burning sensation instantly took hold in his hands and he quickly pulled them back. They were quickly turning black, looking almost like ash as his skin shriveled and cracked.

He screamed.

The world seemed to melt away as pain shot through his hands. He barely registered himself falling to the ground, legs crumpling underneath him. A sudden numbness overtook the tips of his fingers, slowly growing down his fingers. Looking through his tears, he managed to catch a glimpse of his blackened fingers. He nearly passed out from the horror.

His fingers were slowly disintegrating, crumbling away like sand. No muscle or bone could be seen, just black _dust_.

He was brought out of his trance when someone shook his shoulders violently. Dizzily, he looked up to see Rapunzel with both hands on his shoulders, tears pricking her eyes.

"Varian!" She shouted, "are you okay!?"

Worry was etched into her face, making her look much older than she really was. Her hair sprawled out behind her, back to its original state.

Varian didn't respond, couldn't really, and just stared at her. He knew he should respond to her, but his mind drew a blank.

This just worried her more.

Her felt her hands leave his shoulders and saw her get up and walk around him. Too out of it to turn around, Varian just closed his eyes and tried to calm down. The pain had spread past his elbows and up his arms, but had slowed down considerably. He could no longer feel any of his fingers and based off of the tingling feeling crawling up his palms he could guess where it was. A thought briefly flickered through his head. It was faint and insignificant amongst all of his other screaming thoughts, but it somehow managed to break through,

_What about Dad_?

His eyes snapped open and he scrambled to get up, momentarily forgetting about his hands. His hands brushed against the floor and agony filled his body. Head banging against the floor, he fell into a fetal position, blood filling his mouth as he bit down on his tongue. More tears poured from his eyes as the pain doubled in intensity.

Around him he could hear and feel someone moving around frantically. He could only guess Rapunzel was trying to find something, as he couldn't imagine what else she could be doing that warranted such frenzied movements.

All of a sudden something thudded heavily against the stone floor, rattling his bones and teeth. A shuffling could be heard before heavy footsteps approached him. Varian just gritted his teeth and curled into his body even more.

A voice cut through the haziness of his mind, strong yet clearly shaken with fear. The familiarity of the voice made him pause, pain forgotten for a moment. It had been so long since he had heard that voice, part of him had believed he would never hear that voice again. Yet the proof was undeniable when it lay right in front of him...

Peeling open his eyes(_when had he closed them_?) he saw something moving in front of him. A part of him still couldn't believe what was happening, thought that Rudiger must have found a way in even when they told him to wait outside. But the attempt was proven futile as the figure moved closer and his eyes finally focused.

It was his dad.

Varian nearly jumped in joy at the fact that his father was finally free! But he found himself wary of moving, fearing a relapse of what happened before.

His father's face was finally free from that agonizing expression Varian had gazed upon for all that time, but he could see a barely hidden panic underneath the calm he now radiated. Varian knew Quirin must have been terrified of the fact that his own son's hands were disappearing as if they had never been there. He was knelt before him, his hands hovering above Varian's body as if afraid to touch him.

Varian responded by uncurling a tiny bit, blacked and crumbling arms reaching out towards his father. Quirin quickly reached out, careful not to touch Varian's arms, and put his hands reassuringly on his shoulders. The angle may have been awkward, but Varian relaxed at the touch anyways, just happy to feel that familiar pressure.

Varian could see Rapunzel peeking out from behind his father's hulking figure. She looked worried still, but otherwise seemed to have relaxed a bit.

Varian just took a moment to enjoy the peace, no one moving or saying anything as they watched the black stop right below his shoulders. As it stopped, the pain in his arms lessened immensely. His entire body relaxed as the pain lowered to bearable levels, still there but not nearly as bad. He was so relieved that he didn't even notice how the disintegration was still crawling up his arms, now halfway to his elbows.

He sniffed, effectively snapping Quirin and Rapunzel out of their trance. Quirin was the first one to speak, "Varian? H-how are you feeling?"

Varian looked his father in the eyes, "I-I've been b-better," he whispered, voice thin and frail. A whisper of a grin touched his face.

Despite all the tears and dirt smeared on his son's face, Quirin knew his son would be okay once he saw that grin. He couldn't imagine what his life would be like if he didn't make it. Lonely nights and crying flashed through his mind. He shook his clear to clear his thoughts, now was not the time.

Varian closed his eyes and relaxed. The tingling feeling going up his arms had finally stopped. What was left of his arms gently lowered and hung limply by his sides.

Quirin lifted his son up by his shoulders and pulled him into his lap. He rested so naturally as he lay on Quirin's lap. Quirin smiled as he remembered how years before, he held his son just like this as he rocked his small body gently to sleep.

Tears gathered unbidden in his eyes as he forced himself to look at his son's arms, unable to put it off any longer.

The entire forearm of both arms was completely gone, all that remained being a short piece of black bone jutting out of the elbow, the muscle and skin slowly holding out the closer it got to the elbow. The skin was bumpy as if it had been boiled. His arms were somehow thinner than usual, which before this he would have thought impossible. But now it looked as if his arms were barely anything more than bone.

Quirin bit back a curse word, aware of the company present. He looked up at Rapunzel who had moved to kneel in front of him and his son. She was also looking at Varian's arms, horror etched onto her face, but there was something else. Something like... guilt?

The realization crashes over him and he pulls his son closer to his chest protectively while his face morphed into anger.

"You did this didn't you!" He growled at her, his thoughts disoriented and confused.

Rapunzel humped, obviously not expecting this outburst. She put her hands out in front of her as if that would stop him, "N-no! No! I would never!" She exclaimed, trying to calm the furious man. "Please! I would never do something like this on purpose."

Quirin's face just twisted in more anger, "But you knew this could happen! This has happened before, hasn't it?!"

Rapunzel opened her mouth as if to defend herself but then stopped. Her mouth closed and she looked away guilty.

"See!" He exploded, rushing to proved his point, "you knew the dangers and you did it anyway!"

"Dad.."

The soft whisper caused Quirin's head to snap downwards, all of his anger melting away in an instant.

Varian was looking up at him with half lidded eyes. It seemed as though the stress of the day had finally caught up to him. "S'not her fault..." he slurred out, "I-I would do any... _anything_," he paused, "lose e-_everything_, for youuu." He had started to trail off at the end, but Quirin had understood nonetheless.

"Oh son," he said fondly. He leased in closer to Varian, who appeared to be drifting off, and whispered to him, "I am so proud of you, always have been."

Varian fell asleep with a smile on his face, the words he had always wanted to hear echoing in his ears.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time posting on this site so I hope I did it correctly. Anyways, thank you for reading this one-shot. I know the summary isn’t the best, but you read it anyways and made it this far so thank you!


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